carpenter Joseph, who was to become the foster father of her son. But during the time of their being affianced or engaged to marry, Joseph had no sexual relations with his betrothed Mary. He did not even have them after he obeyed the angel’s orders and took the pregnant Mary. He waited till she gave birth to Jesus. (Matt. 1:18-25) Because Mary’s pregnancy was miraculous, Joseph at first thought she had violated the honor of their marriage engagement. So he “intended to divorce her secretly,” because he “did not want to make her a public spectacle” through a stoning to death for moral unfaithfulness.

16. How did Jacob and Rachel make an honorable approach to marriage?

¹⁶ Joseph’s ancestor, the patriarch Jacob, had been betrothed to lovely Rachel for seven years. Yet during all this time in which he was working off his bride price, he had no sexual relations with her. Only at the end of the betrothal time did he ask her father Laban for her, that they might be formally married and he might honorably have relations with her. Thus Jacob and Rachel made an honorable approach to their marriage.—Gen. 29:20-30.

17. What does a couple’s having sexual relations during the engagement to marry constitute Scripturally, and how may a congregation penalize them for this?

¹⁷ Today when Jehovah’s dedicated witnesses get engaged to marry, they may have no sexual intercourse with each other before they are formally married before witnesses and properly registered as married. If they do not exercise self-control but excite themselves when alone, unobserved, and yield to passion and have sexual union, they commit fornication. Their being engaged to marry does not excuse the act or lift it out of the realm of immorality, fornication. For such uncleanness they can be expelled from the Christian congregation. A Christian minister is within his conscientious right in refusing to marry them, leaving them to be married by a civil servant of the State if they choose to go ahead and get married after they have been disfellowshiped and before they are reinstated in the congregation.

18. Before marriage and to make it a happy one, what should couples straightforwardly inform themselves about with respect to each other?

¹⁸ To insure a happy marriage, couples should learn to know each other well. Each one should learn whether the other is Scripturally free to marry, or to remarry. Each should know, too, whether the other is physically fit to marry and to pay the marriage dues without danger but with pleasure and with certain desired results. If the parents of the couple do not make the marriage arrangements or do the proper investigating, then the engaged couple will have to do it themselves, frankly, without shame, seriously. It is only proper to submit to blood tests and other medical examination required before marriage and the obtaining of the marriage license.

19. Why should couples learn the facts the one about the other before determining to marry, and what true life example shows the urgency of this course?

¹⁹ Take nothing for granted. Learn the facts. Then there will be no horror, instead of ecstasy, on the marriage night or afterward, as when a Latin-American girl, dedicated to God, married under the encouragement of a knowing friend of the bridegroom. Too late she was shocked to find she had married an unreported leper. The leprous man did not show Christian love in concealing his loathsome disease. The friend of the bridegroom did not show brotherly love in conniving at the marriage and leaving the innocent girl ignorant. When the matter was referred to the Watch Tower Society in behalf of the unhappily married girl, there was nothing the Society could do to relieve her of the terrible consequences of her failing to investigate first before marriage and then to make an intelligent decision. Quite unfortunate this, since sickness and disease are not Scriptural grounds for a divorce that frees one to remarry without incurring adultery! Such a blind, ignorant approach to marriage makes for no peace in marriage.

20. Under what circumstances does entering into marriage have its rewarding blessings, and what is the best guidebook for married couples?

²⁰ When a Christian approaches marriage properly informed and with honorable conduct and then enters into it honorably, the marriage has its rewarding joys, privileges and blessings. It honors God, the heavenly Founder of marriage. But more discussion on this and on the weighty, dignified responsibilities of honorable marriage, we leave for succeeding articles to offer according to the Bible, the best guidebook for married persons.

The Sea of Galilee

FIGURING prominently in the earthly ministry of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was the beautiful sea of Galilee. It was also known as the “sea of Tiberias” because Herod Antipas had built his capital by that name, in honor of Caesar Tiberias, on its shores. In the time of Moses it was called the “sea of Chinnereth.” The Maccabees changed its name to the “sea of Gennesareth” after the exceedingly fruitful adjoining plain by that name. The learned and much-traveled physician Luke never refers to it in his writings as a sea but merely as a lake, which is what it was, the “lake of Gennesaret.”—Matt. 4:12, 13; John 6:1; Num. 34:11; Luke 5:1.

The sea of Galilee is a pear-shaped oval, some twelve to fourteen miles long and about eight miles wide. The province of Galilee lay to the west and north of it and Perea to the east, across the Jordan, and to the south of it. Its surface lies some seven hundred feet below that of the Mediterranean Sea and it has a depth between 150 and 200 feet. The Jordan River flows through it from the Lebanon mountains on the north to its destination, the Dead Sea. Due to the hills on the east and west sides of the sea of Galilee, great winds from the mountains in the north sweep down upon it, causing violent storms.

Just as many a beautiful island is a gem of green in a setting of blue, so the sea of Galilee is an aquamarine gem in a setting of verdant green. Well is it termed the “Lake of Blue.” The Jews of Jesus’ day called it “the entrance to Paradise,” while the Talmud refers to it as the “crown of Galilee.” The climate of its coasts left nothing to be desired; spring came early and frost was unknown. It was a favorite summer resort for the Romans.

In Jesus’ day the sea of Galilee supported a prolific fishing industry, remarkable for both the quantity and the quality of its fish. These were distinctive in appearance and taste, according to Josephus the historian, who was governor of Galilee after the death of Jesus Christ. The sea also supported a shipping industry—230 vessels of various sizes.

A goodly number of cities dotted its coastlands, including Galilee’s largest and Jesus’ home town after he began his ministry, Capernaum; Chorazin, a health resort; Tiberias, the capital; Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene; and Bethsaida, the name of which means “house of fishing.”—Matt. 11:20-24; John 6:23; Matt. 15:39.

It was on the shores of this sea of Galilee that Jesus began his ministry and recruited his first four disciples. On at least two occasions Jesus calmed the violent storms that blew up upon its waters. It was into it that a herd of swine hurtled after a legion of demons entered into them. Upon it Jesus also taught from a boat, because of the press of crowds; at the time giving, among other things, his illustration of the sower.—Matt. 4:18-22; 8:24-27; 13:1-8.

It was also upon the surface of this sea of Galilee that Jesus once walked to rejoin his disciples when a storm arose in the middle of the night; and upon which Peter took a few timid steps, only to begin to sink because of his lack of faith. It was also in this sea that Peter, at Jesus’ command, caught a fish in whose mouth Peter found a silver coin with which to pay the temple tax. And finally, it was here after his resurrection that Jesus met his disciples and gave Peter his threefold commission to feed his sheep.—Matt. 14:24-31; 15:29; 17:27; John 21:1-17.

Truly the sea of Galilee was unique in beauty and wealth and particularly in its associations with Jesus’ earthly ministry.